
The Monkees were cobbled together in the Sixties as America’s answer to the Beatles and plonked in a zany television sitcom; yet the songs – perky, infectious, intricately-crafted – were actually quite good. As cartoon characters, the Archies were even less “real”, but Sugar, Sugar, their worldwide hit of 1969, is two minutes and 48 seconds of pure pop.
A few years later came a confection rather less wholesome but just as mouth-watering – the Runaways. The first all-girl rock-and-roll…